Senators ask Chinese to help stop flood of fake IDs

— -- In a rare showing of bipartisan cooperation, four U.S. senators have asked the Chinese Embassy to crack down on high-quality fake IDs flowing into the USA from the foreign power.

The two Republicans — Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Mark Kirk of Illinois — and the two Democrats — Dick Durbin of Illinois and Tom Harkin of Iowa — cited "grave concern" over the quality and availability of fake identification cards from companies such as ID Chief.

The issue was highlighted in a USA TODAY report in June.

"I joined in the letter because this is a real problem to our security structure," said Durbin, assistant Senate majority leader. "A license is essentially an ID passkey to enter into the security system in America, and these IDs could fool a trained security officer."

"This appeal to the Chinese government is necessary given the national security threat raised by counterfeit operations of this scale and the threat to individual security by the related identity theft reported by USA TODAY," Grassley said.

The letter, sent to Ambassador Zhang Yesui of the People's Republic of China and copied to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, reads:

"We are writing with grave concern regarding recent reports detailing how individuals can obtain high-quality counterfeit driver's licenses from companies based in China, as relayed in a June 10, 2012, USA TODAY article. … We remain concerned that high-quality counterfeit identification documents will get into the hands of terrorists that can use them to circumvent our security infrastructure in their plot to harm our country."

ID Chief and other companies are creating fake identification cards that can satisfy many, if not all, of the security measures used by states to prevent fraud. ID Chief, whose website is based in China, responds personally to each buyer with a money-order request.

The IDs, used mainly by underage drinkers, can get through security scans and airport security checkpoints.

Andrew Meehan, a policy analyst for the Coalition for a Secure Driver's License, a non-partisan group that supports tighter controls on such documents, applauded the senators' action but said he's concerned that the problem requires more than just cooperation from the Chinese.

"This is a supply-and-demand problem," Meehan said. "The Senate took an important step in encouraging the Chinese to crack down on ID Chief and others. However, something must be done about that demand and that may mean increased penalties for (persons caught using) fake IDs."